Chloe Esposito Shoots Her Way To Gold

When you think of Olympic sports, the modern pentathlon doesn't exactly spring to mind!

Oddschecker | Monday 22nd August 2016 / 00:52

When you think of Olympic sports, the modern pentathlon doesn't exactly spring to mind. But with Chloe Esposito winning Australia's eighth gold medal early on Saturday morning, she certainly has made fans sit up and take notice. Here's a rundown of what you need to know.

The Modern Pentathlon
The modern pentathlon requires athletes to be skilled across five disciplines - fencing, swimming, horse riding, running and shooting - and the sport was first included at the Olympics in 1912.

Pentathletes earn points over the first three stages - competing in one-touch fencing bouts, 200m freestyle heats and riding a 400m show-jumping course. The more points a competitor has, the greater the head start they receive for the final combined running and shooting event, a 3200m run with four stops that require five accurate shots with laser pistols.

Sounds all a bit too easy? Keep in mind all four events are held on the same day.

A Family Affair
The Esposito family is blessed with sporting talent. The 24-year old is trained by her father, Daniel, a former Olympian who represented Australia in Los Angeles 1984. Her younger brother, Max, also competed in Rio for the men's pentathlon event, while her sister, Emily, is a handy shooter and just missed out on Australian selection for the games.

Esposito worked incredibly hard for her gold medal. Along with her father and brother, she relocated overseas to Budapest, Hungary two years earlier in 2014 to focus on her fencing. Before the games began, she spent July in Mexico undergoing intense high altitude training.

Now that's dedication.

How Esposito Won Gold
Esposito was 45 seconds behind Polish leader, Oktawia Nowacka, and in seventh spot overall before the final combined stage. In dramatic scenes, defending Olympic champion, Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania, and Germany's world champion Lena Schoneborn were both eliminated at the riding stage earlier in the day.

The Australian still had plenty of work to do but the running and shooting was always going to be her strongest event. Esposito steadily overtook each of her rivals and stormed home on the back of an excellent shooting display, missing only one of 21 shots over the four 800m laps.

In finishing with winning time of 12 minutes and 10.19 seconds she completed a legendary Olympic comeback.

An Australian Triumph
Esposito's gold is Australia's first ever medal in the pentathlon. The win takes the Aussies back into the top ten in the medal tally with the green and gold sitting eighth in the overall standings.

While a number of Australian favourites have failed to fire at Rio, in particular the highly-fancied swimming team, it's great to see a lesser known Olympian standing on top of the podium. The Australian's celebration tells you all you need to know about the Olympic spirit.